Decentring the Wizard: An Analysis of the Constructed Discourses of Animality in the Harry Potter Series

Abstract

This thesis seeks to explore the way constructions of animality present problematic discourses of race, gender and human ethnic groups in the Harry Potter series. This is done with special emphasis on the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the fifth, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and the seventh, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The overall claim is that problematic representations of animality constructions in the series reinforce, rather than resist, stereotypes and prejudices against homosexuals, ethnic minority groups, females and real animals. It follows that these representations are problematic when portrayed in such a popular work as the Harry Potter series, and that this needs to be recognised and challenged in order to work against an animalisation of the Other.